heat heat heat

Today, the weather was very very hot in california. My tank went up to 83 degrees. What can i do to cool the hot tank? Besides getting $400 chillers.

 

i often try to keep the room cooler like turning on the ac

 

Mkizla

there are some things you can try, but they vary in terms of effectiveness , depending on extremes of heat and also duration of warm weather

if its going to be a long term problem - the chiller is the most effective solution IMO

short term - dependind what you are keeping

raising the lights a little in order to get better ventilation

directing fans - computer fans across the water surface to increase evaporation thus cooling

bottles of frozen water placed in the sump or in DT

all these things have been used with varying degrees of success , but as stated, they are not great long term solutions against major temperature issues

Steve

 

The past few summers I ran the ac constantly. I purchased an Aqua Logic Cyclone chiller this Spring and it has kept the tank at a constant 81. It was well worth the 1000.00. It certainly averaged out since our Gas and Electric is so much lower now that we are not running the ac 24x78)

 

wish i had ac in my house, but no ac hehe. Frozen water bottle trick I like.
Is it safe if the tank stays around 80s? I have coral and hermits etc etc

 

Earlier this year Mkizla if you recall we went a stint for a couple of weeks @ >=100 degrees. I put a fan over the surface of my tank to increase evaporation, in addition to putting the frozen bottles into my sump (which chill for like 20 mins before they are liquid again) and I was able to keep the tank in the low 80s.

One day the wife took the fan for herself and the tank made it to 90 degrees, no lossess. One of the things I sugjest is hit frys electronics and grab a few of those PC fans (wired for 110), they sell those. Works great as a temp solution without dropping the big bucks on a chiller

 

This couldnt have been said better

 

In my opinion, there's no real reliable way to do it other than a chiller. 4 or 500 is a small price to pay to protect my investment

 

89 deg lol i live in south florida and that is like a chilly day down hear i am use to 95 up

 

I used to do he fan and bottle trick. I was always worrying about my tank temp. I could not always be home to do the bottle trick. The fan causes wayyy too much evaporation imo. Would lose like almost a gallon of water a day! Thats on a 16 gallon tank, and my salinity would fluctuate too much. Now that I ahve a chiller.. I worry bout nuthin!